Any Laura Ingalls Wilder fans?

I've been watching the DVD series at 6am when ds3 wakes - I love snuggling him on my lap for an hour before the rest of the house gets up.

Must reread the books now

I've been getting all misty eyed over Michael Landon and bitterly resenting the fact that i dont have a pioneer husband with a kind face and twinkly eyes

I haven't read all of the thread, but someone suggested that there was some sort of genetic problem with the family regarding male infant mortality. Boy babies are generally more frail that girl babies.

My grandmother had her fourth and last son (also had four daughters) during World War II and he died as an infant. My mother (daughter 3) had a son at age 16 who died, from cot death. My sister's second son died in infancy, I believe he had a birth defect where his intestines were mostly outside he body when he was born. My second oldest niece's first baby, a boy, died in infancy. You can imagine how nervous I was when my son was born!

Is there a lot of cot death in my family? Are we unusual? I don't know. But I think people talk about these things more than they did in the old days - even in my family I knew I was never to mention my oldest brother, ever. And I do think that people understand the causes better than in previous generations.

Your blog sounds fascinating, Georgian - please do link to it.

Yes Georgian, please link.
I thought it was just me.They were the first books I saved up and bought myself.
DD's nowhere near as enchanted as me, sadly.

Oh wow - so many of you! I thought I was quite alone until I read this thread. I wrote my dissertation on the Little House books and have a blog that is (loosely) inspired by them.

Moondog, your trip sounds amazing! Last year we went to Pepin, Walnut Grove (I paddled in Plum Creek - I get goosebumps, just remembering it) and we stayed at the De Smet homestead. It was AMAZING! Dd wore my old Laura dress, apron and sunbonnet and flounced about the place like a little pioneer girl. I've brainwashed her, so she loved it too.

I blogged the trip too. Will link if anyone's intetested.

Dh bought me the book 'Little House, Long Shadow: the effect of the Little House books on American culture' for Christmas. I'm reading it now.

Dd got a tin mug, candy cane, heart-shaped biscuit and American penny in her stocking last year. She loved it, bless her.

I agree with you Moondog. - I feel very sheepish when I whinge about the minor inconveniences of my life when I think about their lives. My great Aunt, in her account, wrote about her excitement at Christmas when given a new doll and a stocking filled with an orange, an apple, candy and nuts. She wrote:

"In looking back I realize we were blessed with wonderful parents, and a loving and secure home life. There were few outside activities but we always had good books to read, games to play, music and a happy atmosphere. Dad always found time to do things with us, and Mother was always there to kiss away our hurts, and to comfort us in fears and troubles. When I see the pressures on present day children, and the conditions they have to contend with, I am grateful I grew up when I did."

Makes me go all teary-eyed when I read it!

Love her! I read all of her books as a child. And now I want to read them again. Must salvaged them from my parents house.

That's an amazing idea (about slave quilts). And eeek! to winter in Kurdistan.

I love Lucy Boston's quilts, which aren't really simple but often look as if they are until you see how she's done them. I don't like ones that don't have symmentry, for some reason.

I have just finished rereading the LHOTP books from On The Banks of Plum Creek, and then found this thread! I loved these as a child, and still love them. I'm hooked on the tv series too, even though it is so far from the actual story.

Luckily we have lots of letters written by Great Grandpa and Great Grandma as well as accounts from my Grandma and her older sister. My Dad loves family history and has gathered a lot of it together. It has been great being reading through some of it with DS, and he is so thrilled to have a direct connection to this part of history.

Well, you started it moondog! It's a lovely thread.

I love quilting - I did one for my baby niece but it was just tiny stars, fun to do and easy. I'm trying to do something harder and more interesting now.

It's very 'Laura', your description of the 'terrible winter'!

Hi Moondog - I never got to meet my Great Grandpa (the sherif) but my Grandma is still alive and sharp as a tack. She has told me many stories about the constant fear of prairie fires and how the homestead was saved once by some hastily plowed firebreaks. Also told me about how all homesteaders would welcome in any passerby for food and to stay the night as there were no towns. The children never knew who might be sleeping in their tiny shack of an evening! The nearest town was 25 miles away - a two day journey to get supplies or go to the doctor. She also talked about how cold it was - Great Grandma would keep a flat iron on the stove and use it to melt the thick frost on the inside of the window to see out. The children had to play on cardboard boxes or the kitchen table because the ground was so cold. I'm so in awe of all of the people who homesteaded in such treacherous conditions.

moondog - ooh! Nice! What are your quilts like?

I am just getting into quilting and very excited you've done so many.

Btw, if I am reading it right from Tunip's link to 'Becoming Laura Ingalls', Ma had Mary when she was about 23/4, whereas Laura had Rose at 19 - I wonder if that was partly why she felt so young? Especially since her mother is always presented as being more mature than she manages to be.

poledra - oh, yes.

That makes me sniff a bit too.

And then later on she tells someone (Leslie? Mrs Cornelia?) that when she looks at Jem she can see Joyce who would have been about toddling.

It's sad but such a beautiful thing to write.

Did you say there were quilts Moondog? What were they like?

Am currently reading LHOTP to DD2 (6-yo), and she's got Plum Creek lined up waiting . 8-yo DD1 has read up to Silver Lake but has decided to wait a bit for the others as she found it harder than the previous books to read. I hugely enjoy reading these books aloud to the children and am very jealous of you, moondog - thanks for telling us about your trip, though!

Anne of GG also wonderful - I remember the bit about her 'seeing' little Joyce at the age she should be. Just after Joyce died, Anne was weeping to Cap'n Jim that she was frightened that she wouldn't know Joyce if she saw her again in heaven.

^"But she won't be my baby," said Anne, with trembling lips. "Oh, she may be, as Longfellow says, `a fair maiden clothed with celestial grace'--but she'll be a stranger to me."

"God will manage better'n that, I believe," said Captain Jim. ^